Boat Trips & Guided Walks

FIVE TIMES EVERY WEEK HERITAGE TOURS DESCEND INTO THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBER

Grand Entrance Hall

TWO WALKS BERMONDSEY TO BRUNEL MUSEUM

MAYFLOWER TO BRUNEL’S TUNNEL Gulliver’s Travels, Ancient Riverside Village, Sea to Shining Sea, East India Company10.45 a.m. on Sundays and 4.30 pm Wednesdays from Bermondsey Tube (Jubilee line) Just turn up – no booking required. In partnership with London Walks. £9 per person / £7 concessions.“The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore…” Now the curtain rises upon a different scene.

1st Miracle: we’re only a 7-minute tube ride away from the Houses of Parliament.

2nd Miracle: we’re 500 years away;

3rd Miracle: this place still looks like – feels like – what it once was. (Was to Gulliver – it’s where he sailed from)

4th Miracle: the Mayflower – the Pilgrim Father’s pub – is here (let alone a king’s palace, a Dickensian mortuary, a villain’s gibbet, a prince’s tomb, a pirate’s pub and an East India Court).

5th Miracle: the 8th Wonder of the World is here (yes, we’re talking the underground cathedral – the Grand Entrance Hall to Brunel’s tunnel under the Thames).

6th Miracle: we’re going down into the 8th Wonder of the world, down into the underground cathedral – even though it’s locked and closed to the public. Coda anyone? River-lulled in ancient Rotherhithe we’ll hear the cool lapse of hours pass, until the centuries blend and blur. In Rotherhithe, in Rotherhithe…

Please Note: Access to the Grand Entrance Hall is severely restricted – we stoop through a short tunnel to descend by temporary staircase into a huge chamber, half the size of Shakespeare’s Globe, but hidden underground. Visitors with any concerns should contact the Brunel Museum beforehand. An analogy? Well, that low tunnel is not unlike the entryway to a bomb shelter; indeed, it’s about the same height as the tunnel into the Great Pyramid (though this tunnel takes you into a “Great Pyramid” – okay, an enormous silo – that opens downwards).

THREE BOAT TRIPS EMBANKMENT TO BRUNEL MUSEUM

BRUNEL’S LONDON Boat Trip, River Walk, Tunnel Descent10.45 am on Saturdays, Tuesdays, Thursdays Embankment Tube Just turn up – no booking required. Please note: assemble at tube station (not pier) In partnership with London Walks. £9 per person / £7 concessions (transport extra – see N.B. below). This isn’t just Brunel, it’s a voyage – and a walk – into the birthplace of modern London. So yes, under three Brunel bridges and over two Brunels’ tunnels to the best kept secret in London. And into the bargain a sightseer’s London checklist, from the Houses of Parliament to the Tower of London. Icons. And that secret. Several secrets, actually. A secret gateway for the Czar of Russia. Six men dead on a haunted ship. Broken bones by the silent Harpy. Broken slipways on the Isle of Dogs. Shattered columns, shattered dancers, magic at the Tunnel Club. Mind-melting magic. Outcroppings of the past that haven’t been swallowed by the passage of time. That tell of the monster ship. And of the world’s most important tunnel. That more than tell. That take us down into the darkness where men died and Brunel met with destiny. N.B. Oyster or 2-Zone Travel Card recommended for our short train journey. There’s an extra charge for the boat but we get you a rate. And there’s no queuing – our tickets are reserved! The Brunel Museum gratefully acknowledges Heritage Lottery Fund support in developing these tours.

Click for more info ...

Friends: Join or Renew

Brunel's Britain …

"
How grateful should today's travellers be to Isambard Kingdom Brunel? Well, during a career cut short by his death, aged 53, in 1859, this engineering genius became the father of urban mass transit systems, inter-city rail transport and intercontinental passenger shipping. He even found time to design the odd boutique hotel ... so, quite a lot. "